After the Loss of London
by Audrie
Summary: London was lost to the Death Eaters...how were the Order members going to survuve without their safehold? Things were going terribly wrong...
1. Prologe

Hermione looked behind her, the alley was clear. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, leaning her back against the grimy stone. It was just past three in the morning and the air was painfully cold as she pulled in breath after breath.

"Come out where ever you are dolly," a rough gravelly voice called to her from down the street. She knew that she couldn't stay too long.

Taking one more deep breath she shut her eyes tight and dug her nails into her palms, she was drained from getting little sleep and doing this took more effort than she remembered. She concentrated on the first place that stuck in her mind. She left like she was being sucked through a straw but being pulled apart all at the same time, and with a pop she collapsed on the wooden floor of the Shrieking Shack just outside of Hogsmeade.

--

Harry gasped as he heard something hit the floor hard just down the hall from the tiny excuse of a room he had been sleeping in. It took less than a second for his wand to flick into his hand and positioned in the ready. Peeking around the corner in a slight crouch, he nearly sagged in relief as he watched Hermione struggle to her feet.

"What are you doing here?" Harry hadn't been in contact with anyone in a solid month. Owls dropped by with packages of dried food every couple says, there were no letters attached. He was sure he couldn't handle the isolation for much longer.

Hermione seemed to jump out of her skin when she heard a voice; she had been hoping that wherever her mind had taken her that it would have been an isolated place. She had also prayed that it wouldn't splint her. She'd never been unfortunate enough to experience the excruciating pain of splinting, but there were horror stories on the subject.

It took her a moment to recognize the scruffy hair that hid bright green eyes and the scar that had come to symbolize the war that was currently being fought by all creatures that were fortunate enough to be a part of the world of Magic. A sigh of relief passed her dry, cracked lips.

"Harry," she lifted her hand weakly in a greeting, "They were in London."

Those green eyes, always seemed so bothered, but at that moment they held nothing put pure horror. London had been the safe hold of the Order. There were Wizards and Witches everywhere. Defensive spells around, over, and over the city. They shouldn't have been able to pass through those spells. It should have killed them if they tried to pass through. To learn they had failed was disturbing. If London wasn't safe…

"How?"

"Traitors," was the single word response she spat at him.

Harry didn't want to know who. He trusted the people of the Order and the idea of one of them betraying the cause that would bring them freedom, it made his stomach clench. Pushing the sick feeling away he motioned for her to come closer; they could sit in the room and talk. He had left over tack and water that magically refilled itself that they could share.

With shaking legs she moved forward, almost tripping, but using the walls for support she made it the relatively short distance to the room. The floors creaked and the wall paper pealed off in places when her fingers rubbed too hard against the small tears that weathering of time had caused.

They sat across the room from each other, on the floor, but still their knees almost touched. It was cramped but allowed them to share the small blanket that was draped over them. There was a small window that allowed only a little light when the sun was high in the sky, but it was not yet dawn so the room was nearly pitch black. At least it was before Harry had lit a candle that illuminated the room with its warm glow.

"Hermione, when did the Death Eaters breach London's shields?"


	2. Chapter One

Chapter One

"I'm not sure when it happened, I'm actually not sure if London was ever really safe. It was a few weeks back that we started to notice that things were happening that should not have been had the shields been working properly." Hermione took a deep breath and ran a shaking hand through her tangled hair; it hadn't been washed or brushed in days. "There were people that were going missing. At first it was just a few missing persons reports, filed to the police. We didn't think too much of that, people went missing all the time in the city. Then our people started to vanish, people that we had recruited after we sent you here. They weren't high ranking individuals, but that fact that Witches and Wizards went missing brought rise to a red flag. There were a few of us that searched the cities, hours upon hours, days, a week, I think we're still looking for them!"

"Hermione, it's okay," Harry placed a hand on her knee. Her seething stopped; she hadn't even noticed that she was pulling so roughly on her hair.

Nodding grimly she continued, "Well there were people in a panic, nothing good ever happens when there's panic. Nothing gets done and people over look important details. There shouldn't have been people missing, Harry. It should have been impossible for someone to have been snatched from right under our noses. And they were doing it jus to see if they could get away with it. Well things happened that shouldn't have, actions that should have been taken were never carried out. When the shield went down, I don't even know how they did it. I helped put them up…" she coughed. "It was about five days ago that they raided the city. There were hundreds of Death Eaters; some had magical animals to help them find those with magic. Other's had trolls on chains…they were there to destroy. They killed anything they came across. It was a blood bath. I spent all that time on the run. The Order split up into five man teams. Fred, George, Ron, and Ginny were in my group."

Harry's eyes lit up at the mention of Ginny. He hadn't seen her in so long. Hermione noticed the spark and hated herself for what she was going to tell him next.

"Fred and Ginny died. They were caught by a hound. George, Ron, and I split up after that, deciding that it was best to get out of the city as fast as possible. Traveling alone was more effective. I don't know where they are right now; we were planning on meet somewhere close to Berlin, somewhere on the outskirts. Germany was safe, we heard."

Harry, the spark in his eyes gone, was shaking with rage. The information about Ginny…he could only imagine her facing off against one of the hounds. They were giant beasts, twice the size of large wolf, and had sleek black hair and snarling teeth. He had seen one only once before, and it had been dead at the time. It was just before they isolated him in the shrieking shack, he still remembered how terrified he had been seeing the dead creature…he could only guess at how terrified Fred and Ginny must have been.

--

"I need one room please." He pushed a bag that produced the musical jingle of money across the dirty wood bar.

The man behind the bar was round in his face and just about everywhere else. His dirty trousers were held up by suspenders and there was a rag, used to dry mugs, tossed over his shoulder. He knuckled his handlebar mustache and tugged open the synched bag peering inside. He looked up abruptly.

"And who be you?" His voice was deep and course.

"That's none of your concern," the cloaked man pushed another couple of galleons the bar man's way.

"Ah, Mr. Smith," the bar tender struggled to turn around and grab a key, but grab it he did and slid it across the filth of the bar to the hooded guest. "Just up the stairs an too your left."

"Thank you."


End file.
